THE FEMALE GENDER, Architecture and their constraints.
María García Concha
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Abstract
There are many possible definitions among which to choose with the aim of explaining the significance of architecture being, fortunately, all of them valid as architecture is a broad- meaning field depending on the perception that every single person experiments from it, either as a user or as the creator. "Space (s)" could be one of the chosen words to describe what the meaning of architecture is as briefly as possible; understanding it as surfaces, heights, volumes, communications and the place where lives are developed. But is there space in architecture for the equality of those who dedicate to it or are we facing a clear example of discrimination in both a personal and professional way?
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Gender And Architecture (MAMUNA).pdf
An essay which addresses and identifies the issues of gendered segregation, feminism, space and architecture. The aim is to understand whether spaces create borderlines between men and women or do we as humans create them - political, social, cultural or historical. The essay draws attention to the crisis and subsequent victories of patriarchy within the twentieth-century design school, Bauhaus after the First World War. To be able to the “gendering of architecture” although it is difficult to pin-point as the ideologies with architecture itself embodies the status gender-free. I will be evaluating social theorists, marxists, marxist feminists as well as feminist to further support my argument. The emphasis of this essay is to identity the different spatial arrangement in a workplace or educational places where typical female and male working spaces contribute towards gender stratification. How is gender sustained in architecture, despite its direct correlation with patriarchy? How architecture is embedded within gender? Why are spaces defined/framed as “feminine” or “masculine”?
Gender issues in architectural education: feminine paradigm
2012
Whether we are referring to architectural practice or architectural education, women’s lack of visibility is an important issue that reveals the fact that architecture is still defined by a masculine paradigm starting from design norms and canons followed by the dissemination of the traditional image of the architect as white aggressive and egocentric middle-class man. In terms of architectural education,
'Making Trouble to Stay With: Architecture and Feminist Pedagogies,' Field 7: Becoming a Feminist Architect / Journal: ISSN: 1755-068 www.field-journal.org vol.7 (1)
How can we challenge the fundamental male dominance in the building industry (that is, as the architecture profession becomes more gender balanced, the building industry at large is characterised by inertia and nontransparent structures), and what could be the result of a balanced field of practice and production? How is a feminist architecture to develop responsible and caring approaches to transforming/making the world in such a way that it will welcome and host all living beings and all existing, imaginable and still-to-beinvented forms of life? Is a nomadic feminist practice that actually affirms different notions of spatiality and subjectivities possible within architectural practice? There is an urgent need for “rethinking the social in architecture” in late modernistic housing areas. In relationship to that I’m interested in posing the question of how feministic city planning could develop a method not only involving the citizens in social pre-studies, but bringing the process further into the design- and conventional planning phase? There is a need for new types of social places that could change the public sphere, that in many examples are dominated by men – but certainly not are attractive to women. Women do not have time to spend in public; they are occupied in domestic life. Is it possible to create ‘hybrid’ spaces with another type of necessary actives, taking more important roles in everyday life in comparison to cafés, shops etc.? One example is Stepwells in India. Could we mix playgrounds with restaurants, laundry with cafés? Or could we take this spatial challenge even further? Could a method be developed to give a strong motif that collaboration between feminism and architecture generates an important tool for “rethinking the social in architecture”?
To what extent is gender differentiated in the private and public spaces, architecture or the domestic environment and how does this relation recreates in the design of a domestic space?
2015
As creators in Space, architects and designers are given the ability to explore and expand from short-term architectural missions, to the eventual formation of the world, targeting the ultimate efficiency of human environment creating thoughtful spaces and smart functional systems for all the living people. The new ‘human intervention’ criteria needs to be developed, in order to approach a different strategy of physical and psychological requirements, framing multiple aspects that consciously should be influencing architectural aesthesis. The design of a living environment for long-living stay should take into account the quality-of-life, as well as the long term functionality of services that reflect gender quality co-existence. Architectural aesthetics should be able to resolve and monitor the spatial arrangement, the usage and functionality of the individual spaces and how they provide the user an easier and more pleasant experience of living. This research paper aims to question the architectural journey of male boundaries and the emergence of female realms in relation to architectural aesthetics. The paper will analyse important issues such as how do people visualise architecture, the primary goals of intervention in the architectural field and the reflection on the society. Additionally, in what ways is the evaluation of the design criticised, rather than just the building itself. Aaron Betsky claims that the society must create a living world which will consider the needs of both genders and all those beings whose gender we cannot and should not define. Being able to administer all the necessary aspects in order to process to the design, architecture enables issues such as aesthetics and the sensibility inside the developing form. Starting from the outer envelope to the inner environment also the different senses a space can provide, and all the characteristics that encourage the user to be able to experience space and embrace their personal experiences. To that end, this paper discusses the necessity of an aesthetic perspective within the general architectural intervention and the necessity of architectural cognition to achieve an efficient outcome.
Documentation and Archiving as a Means of Supporting Women Professionals in the Field of Architecture
This paper examines the recent status of Turkish women architects through the statistical data gathered from union of chamber of architects and schools of architecture. It also compares the figures of women architects in our country with selected countries from Europe as well as Canada, Australia and United States of America. Our study has demonstrated that despite of the fact that women are generally underrepresented in the all work force in Turkey, the condition of Turkish women architects display a considerably satisfactory level of representation in the profession, when compared with other countries. However, during the analysis it became also evident that the current statistical data in published and unpublished sources have various shortages and thus they are unable to provide a ground for more accurate evaluations. Based on this necessity, we would like to present our proposal for web based documentation and archiving of women architects in order to benefit from the fruitful milieu of the conference discussions. Our proposal for documentation is also reputable to other countries for further developments of this project. The fact that only a small percentage of the overall built environment is shaped by women architects clearly shows the existence of a gender-based crisis in the profession of architecture. Despite the growing number of female students in architectural education especially after the 1980s, male professionals are still shaping architectural practice. This dilemma has become a major area of interest for many scholars who have approached the problem from various viewpoints for the last twenty years. Even the proliferation in the number of books, articles and research reports on the issue of marginalization of women architects in the profession has not been able to change this situation yet (Graft, Greed, Manley, 2003). The patriarchal roots of the profession and its historical relations with craftsmanship are evidently one of the main reasons in the historically delayed entrance of women architects into the profession (Adams, Tancred 2000). The emphasis on the effect of the biological differences (Grosz E 2000) and/or socially constructed gender codes (Weismann 1994) is also another approach in current research, which focuses on the reasons for the marginalization of women architects. Some feminist theorists, on the other hand, have preferred to interpret the difference by acknowledging women's ways of knowing (Franck 2000). These viewpoints theorize the raison d'être of the secondary roles of women in the profession by criticizing the patriarchal hegemony in general. Despite the modest roles that women take in shaping the built environment, feminist criticism in the field of architecture has enabled recognition of the responsive approach of women architects for sustainability, diversity, and many other everyday matters, including innovative solutions for eliminating the dissatisfaction from standardized modern housing. Participation of women into the practice of architecture obviously can make a great contribution for equal representation in the workforce all over the world. Women are trying to resist against sexism in the economic arena for a long time. On the other hand, women' participation into architecture is not only vital for women architects, but also for many other people who are in demand of a better architectural service which would produce solutions for social problems such as poverty, homelessness, isolation, and extreme consumption of the sources all over the world. Typical male-centric view of architecture focused on the physical aspects and created a form-obsessed physical built environment. On the other hand, women architects do not take conventional star system embedded in the patriarchal roots of the profession into account. Instead, women architects generally prefer to contend with small commissions with a focus on family society issues such as housing and rehabilitation projects. Increasing the number of women in the discipline of architecture is one of the major concerns of national professional organizations in the new millennium. Action plans that were prepared after comprehensive researches include recommendations to educational institutions, professional organizations, employers and practices. The general points taken from a sample report is quoted below: Recommendations to educational institutions included these key points:
Is Gender Always Binary? An Architectural Investigation
One ruminates in a time when the dialogue has turned to gender neutrality, a discussion of gender binary in architecture is still valid? This paper is an architectural investigation into understanding such binaries in the architectural profession.
The Production of Female Space
Although crafting space is the charge of the profession of architecture, the profession maintains a subordinate position as a tool of the State. As a tool, architecture is granted authority to reproduce spatial formations. Likewise, authority over the production of female space or space primarily occupied by females does not reside with architects but with the State. The State seeks to maintain dominion over a given population by maintaining social categories promoting différance. "As Derrida puts it in a well-known statement, différance refers to 'the systematic play of differences, of traces of differences, of spacing by means of which elements are related to each other.'" (Lucy 26) Through an investigation of space as a social object, we can challenge the legitimacy of formations created to exclude the bodies of women or other marginalized groups. If the crafters of space construct categories that reify différance concretely, then are the crafters arranging the built environment, or crafting space of privilege? If the production via construction of privilege is a truer account of the architectural task, then what is the architect's motivation within this master/slave dialectic? In this arrangement the architect would be considered the slave and the State is master. What is at stake for the profession of architecture? Is différance, as articulated within social systems, fixed or mobile? How can space be neutral if spatial formations are inherently assigned non-neutral typologies, rendering them biased? I. The Practice of Architecture Although crafting space is the charge of the profession of architecture, the profession maintains a subordinate position as a tool of the State. "The culture industry claims to serve the consumers' needs for entertainment, however, it conceals the way that it standardizes these needs, manipulating the consumers to desire what it produces." (Adorno 12)
Explaining Femininity Elements in the Works of Iranian Women Architects
Bagh-e Nazar, 2021
Problem statement: Today, providing the desired environment for the human being, whether it is a male or female user, requires the architect to have full knowledge of the physical, mental, intrinsic, and social dimensions of the audience. As half of the space users, women are often ignored since their needs are derived from their mental, psychosocial, and even social bases, so they have remained disregarded. Lack of such knowledge about women's requirements may decrease their environmental satisfaction. The hypothesis of the research is that architecture consists of multiple components manifesting the designer femininity. These examples, mainly derived from postmodernist concepts or created by women, influence the quality of space, especially women. Research objective: The purpose of the present research is to introduce elements of femininity in architecture to create desirable and utilizable contexts for women. Research method: It is inductive research in terms of theoretical background and literature review to approach the research model. Then, the research also applied the Delphi method and interview among 28 active female Iranian architects. Conclusion: The research conveys that components of motherhood/mother-ness, liquescence, fundamental and structural elements, besides their sub-components are introduced as femininity in contemporary female architecture.
Becoming a Feminist Architect, … visible, momentous, with
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This issue is one of three publications subsequent to the 13th International Architectural Humanities Research Association (AHRA) Conference “Architecture & Feminisms: Ecologies, Economies, Technologies,” which was held at KTH School of Architecture, Stockholm, between the 17th to 19th November in 2016.1 The conference gathered around 200 participants and included over a hundred paper presentations and performances, as well as two exhibitions. The overwhelming interest in reviving the feminist discourse in architecture gave us the opportunity to reflect on the process of becoming feminist architects. Becoming a feminist architect is a complex process, rife with strategies, tactics, frictions, advances and retreats, that will continue to engage us in the future as it does now. This became clear through the presentations of a wide range of different feminist architectural practices, both historical and contemporary, their diverse theoretical underpinnings and methodological reflection...
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The meeting entitled "Women Architects have always been Here" is part of the series of scientific meetings "Docta Spes: The Future of Space is Now", which was launched in November 2022 by the Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly (UTh) and adopts its aim of “reflecting on the need to design a future that is habitable and socially inclusive.” It brings into dialogue distinguished architects, historians, theorists, researchers, and artists who have developed extensive interdisciplinary work at an international level. At the core of their studies and practices are feminist theories, methodologies, and practices as these take shape in diverse geographical contexts and intersect with different disciplines, from architectural historiography, art, curating, gender studies, geography, political ecology, architectural and urban design. The contributions and discussions in this meeting further draw on perspectives from archives, teaching, research, and social activism and will be a catalyst for reflection on the present and future of architectural education.
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This issue is one of three publications subsequent to the 13th International Architectural Humanities Research Association (AHRA) Conference “Architecture & Feminisms: Ecologies, Economies, Technologies,” which was held at KTH School of Architecture, Stockholm, between the 17th to 19th November in 2016. The conference gathered around 200 participants and included over a hundred paper presentations and performances, as well as two exhibitions.
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Reference site: https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-Women-in-Architecture/Sokolina/p/book/9780367232344. Book preview (57 pages available): https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Routledge_Companion_to_Women_in_Arch/qhssEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover, https://routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9780429278891. Recognition: Top Ten Titles published by Routledge featured at 2022 CAA Annual Conference: Sokolina, Anna, ed. The Routledge Companion to Women in Architecture (2021) https://caa.confex.com/caa/2022/meetingapp.cgi/Session/10840; and The Nomination for the SAH 2023 Alice Davis Hitchcock Book Award Description: The Routledge Companion to Women in Architecture illuminates the names of pioneering women who over time continue to foster, shape, and build cultural, spiritual, and physical environments in diverse regions around the globe. It uncovers the remarkable evolution of women’s leadership, professional perspectives, craftsmanship, and scholarship in architecture from the preindustrial age to the present. The book is organized chronologically in five parts, outlining the stages of women’s expanding engagement, leadership, and contributions to architecture through the centuries. It contains twenty-nine chapters written by thirty-three recognized scholars committed to probing broader topographies across time and place and presenting portraits of practicing architects, leaders, teachers, writers, critics, and other kinds of professionals in the built environment. The intertwined research sets out debates, questions, and projects around women in architecture, stimulates broader studies and discussions in emerging areas, and becomes a catalyst for academic programs and future publications on the subject. The novelty of this volume is in presenting not only a collection of case studies but in broadening the discipline by advancing an incisive overview of the topic as a whole. It is an invaluable resource for architectural historians, academics, students, and professionals.
Gender Issues in the Built Environment: A Study on the Role of Architecture for a Sustainable Society
International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 2020
Societies are sustainable if they consist of a mixture of users with various interests, needs, and abilities. Sustainable societies are defined as structures that include different elements in a balance to remain healthy over the long term. One of the key elements of a sustainable society is gender equality. It can be maintained through various factors where architectural design and the built environment can become effective instruments. Although the role of architecture in gender issues is sometimes ignored, its reflection can be seen in the built environment in many different instances. Therefore, architecture has the responsibility to remark gender issues in the built environment to aid in meeting the needs of a sustainable society. This paper presents a study that examines the importance and the role of architectural design in a sustainable society through gender equality in the built environment. The hypothesis of the paper states that the built environment is perceived differently by women and men, and it needs to be designed accordingly. The methodology consists of a literature review on the relationship of gender and architecture, and a quantitative analysis of a questionnaire conducted in Istanbul, Turkey among women and men. Outcomes of the study reveal that gender equality in the built environment and gender equality in the society have a mutual relationship, so that architecture needs to consider them as primary input data in design.
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